On February 14, the largest indoor farm equipment show in the country will begin in Louisville, KY. Thousands of farmers from across the Midwest will converge on the Kentucky Exposition Center to view agricultural technology and equipment from most of the major manufacturers in the industry. Last year, the National Farm Machinery Show drew a record crowd of 312,206 people.

Until I started working for Farm Industry News, I gave little thought to this massive show. But after attending it the past several years, I'm still impressed by the draw this collection of equipment has on farmers. On an average day, 78,000 people walk through the exhibit halls and look, talk, learn — and eat.

Most of the people in the crowd are men, and they are all shopping for something on the farm. (This proves my theory that men are just as interested in shopping as women, as long as it is equipment and not anything to do with clothing or the home.)

Although the National Farm Machinery Show continues to add exhibit space, the show floors are sold out. Good exhibitor space is as valuable as center court season tickets for Hawkeye basketball. In our office, we get phone calls from companies desperate to land a spot on the exhibit floor.

Our magazine is a major sponsor of the show, so we want all of our readers to go to it. But if you can't attend in person, we're offering a new type of coverage of the show that will help you learn about the new ag products and technology on display.

Farm Industry News is introducing FIN TV on its Web site. This year, Senior Editor Jodie Wehrspann and I will take a cameraman and visit many exhibits to videotape the hottest new farm equipment. The clips will be brief, but interesting and informative.

To access FIN TV, go to www.farmindustrynews.com, and you'll see the video pop up. It will include a link to a site with all the short clips listed. You can select what you want to see and hear.

High-speed Internet makes viewing FIN TV easy, but we know many of our readers do not have access to this technology. This is why we've been writing about how farmers can access high-speed Internet. Our magazine will be producing more online features like the video coverage of the National Farm Machinery Show, and we want you to be able to see them. So if you don't have high-speed Internet on your farm computer, start checking around for how you can access it. It will be time and money well spent.